Discussing overall treatment goals with your phototherapy patients can help set realistic expectations and achievable results.
Severity of disease, comorbidities, in-office treatment availability, distance from the office and insurance coverage are all important factors that you should discuss with your psoriasis, vitiligo and atopic dermatitis patients when considering phototherapy. Once a clinical or home phototherapy regimen is determined, it will be helpful to set treatment goals and expectations with your patients. While most psoriasis patients should achieve about 80% clearance in just five weeks with Narrowband UVB phototherapy, it may take longer for some patients.
Honest and upfront discussions about what they can expect over the course of a treatment regimen (such as the possibility of erythema and the fact that it is completely normal) will go a long ways towards setting realistic expectations for your patients and enhance the likelihood of success. And, perhaps most important, letting your phototherapy patients know that consistency (3x week) is the key to achieving satisfactory results will encourage compliance with your prescribed treatment plan!
Should you decide that home phototherapy is the best treatment option for your patient, Daavlin offers a number of services. Free insurance processing is available (use our simple Home Phototherapy Order Packet ) or try our new ClearLink website. ClearLink simplifies the management of your home phototherapy patients and makes generation of prescriptions, dosing guides and patient instructions as simple as a few clicks on your computer, tablet or cell phone.
Daavlin also offers a number of additional resources to help you and your patients manage their home phototherapy treatments, including Home Phototherapy Patient-Provider Contract and Home Phototherapy Patient Treatment Log.
Finally, if your patient’s insurance will not cover a Daavlin home phototherapy device or if they have a large deductible, you may advise them that Daavlin offers in-house payment plans to make the purchase of a home unit easy and affordable.
Contact Daavlin today at info@daavlin.com or by calling 1.800.322.8546 to learn more about phototherapy for your patients!
